I have a jpeg of an image i want printed and am on a Mac. I have never done any 3D printing and would love to start... I dont have any 3d software. Can someone suggest the best easiest software to use so I can upload a file to get printed for Xmas?

Am a prof photographer and can see huge growth in this area of printing, but just came across shapeways on twitter.... would love to get something done as a start for xmas and only have a jpeg at the moment

There are 3D programs that can take several images and produce a 3D model. Or do you want the jpeg printed in a surface in a model created from full color sandstone.(Like for a Christmas tree ornament). With your rush, any of the good artists here could create a simple frame quickly for your photo.

Like Stoney said, post the pic, someone here can make a object to print it on. Perhaps for free , since it is for XMAS

Have any questions regarding Blender, and need fast answers, you are always welcome at the IRC Server Freenode, channel #blender. As a bonus, several there have experience in modelling for 3D prints.

I used the image popper to do the same thing. Accept the drawing want a little more basic. Just remember the material limitations when try to print. If there is too much detail your object may need to be large to capture all of it, and large stuff gets expensive.

I've been working on a new version of the imagepopper which can support larger images and some other cool functions. Here is a quick mockup done as a cameo like pendant.

It uses grey scale for height so the darker lines he made do show up as a higher spots. You get a pretty good rendition. Likely would want to trace over the lines of things like the flower petals if you want them to stand out better.

I don't have an exact release date of this new software but it should be within the next month or so.